American Assets Trust (AAT) Competitors

Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) and American Assets Trust (NYSE:AAT) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, media sentiment, profitability, analyst recommendations, community ranking, valuation, earnings and risk.

Is CUZ or AAT a better dividend stock?

Cousins Properties pays an annual dividend of $1.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.8%. American Assets Trust pays an annual dividend of $1.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.1%. Cousins Properties pays out 387.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. American Assets Trust pays out 107.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. American Assets Trust has raised its dividend for 4 consecutive years. American Assets Trust is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Which has more volatility and risk, CUZ or AAT?

Cousins Properties has a beta of 1.34, suggesting that its share price is 34% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, American Assets Trust has a beta of 1.13, suggesting that its share price is 13% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is CUZ or AAT more profitable?

American Assets Trust has a net margin of 12.40% compared to Cousins Properties' net margin of 5.36%. American Assets Trust's return on equity of 4.98% beat Cousins Properties' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Cousins Properties	5.36%	1.00%	0.58%
American Assets Trust	12.40%	4.98%	1.80%

Does the media favor CUZ or AAT?

In the previous week, Cousins Properties had 13 more articles in the media than American Assets Trust. MarketBeat recorded 19 mentions for Cousins Properties and 6 mentions for American Assets Trust. American Assets Trust's average media sentiment score of 1.92 beat Cousins Properties' score of 1.15 indicating that American Assets Trust is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Cousins Properties	14 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
American Assets Trust	6 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer CUZ or AAT?

American Assets Trust received 84 more outperform votes than Cousins Properties when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 66.01% of users gave American Assets Trust an outperform vote while only 56.72% of users gave Cousins Properties an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Cousins Properties	Outperform Votes 287 56.72%	Underperform Votes 219 43.28%
American Assets Trust	Outperform Votes 371 66.01%	Underperform Votes 191 33.99%

Which has better earnings and valuation, CUZ or AAT?

American Assets Trust has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Cousins Properties. American Assets Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Cousins Properties, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Cousins Properties	$897.85M	4.99	$45.96M	$0.33	80.86
American Assets Trust	$455.77M	2.56	$72.82M	$1.27	15.04

Do analysts recommend CUZ or AAT?

Cousins Properties currently has a consensus target price of $32.20, suggesting a potential upside of 20.67%. American Assets Trust has a consensus target price of $21.00, suggesting a potential upside of 9.98%. Given Cousins Properties' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Cousins Properties is more favorable than American Assets Trust.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Cousins Properties	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.70
American Assets Trust	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in CUZ or AAT?

94.4% of Cousins Properties shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 90.4% of American Assets Trust shares are held by institutional investors. 1.5% of Cousins Properties shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 36.8% of American Assets Trust shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

American Assets Trust beats Cousins Properties on 12 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.